The Neverending Story

Film or digital? Even though cinematographers still can't reach an agreement after many years, this question keeps coming back like a boomerang. And nowhere does it arouse such emotions as at Camerimage Festival. It seemed that a seminar Kodak: Organic. Magic. Romantic with participation of Sean Bobbitt, Bruno Delbonnel and the president and general manager of the Kodak's Entertainment Imaging division, Andrew R. Evenski, would be a tip of the hat to film. However, it turned out that just like religion, politics or Miley Cyrus licking a hammer, this topic still causes controversy.

It all started rather peacefully; Andrew R. Evenski welcomed the participant and denied that Kodak would stop the manufacturing of film: “Kodak is honored to a part of such an incredible festival, the one that truly celebrates the art and craft of cinematography (...) Kodak will continue to manufacture film. Let me be clear: film's alive and well. We realize that filmmakers today have a choice when it comes to capturing images, our job at Kodak is to continue to provide that choice." Both Sean Bobbitt and Bruno Delbonnel used Kodak stock to shoot 12 Years a Slave and Inside Llewyn Davis. The first used 35mm film (Kodak Vision3 50D 5203), while Delbonnel picked Kodak Vision3 500T 5219.

Sean Bobbitt started his career as a TV reporter and achieved fame thanks to his long-term collaboration with Steve McQueen, while three-time Oscar nominee Bruno Delbonnel worked, among others, with Tim Burton and Alexandr Sokurow. These famous cinematographers told the listeners about their work on the films presented during Camerimage Festival.

Still from "Twelve Years a Slave"
Describing 12 Years a Slave, Sean Bobbitt kept repeating that during production of the film he and the director were guided by one word - simplicity. “We had looked at a couple of films together and one of them struck a chord with both of us - it was Down by Law by Jim Jarmusch. In particular the Criterion edition of the DVD with an interview with Robbie Müller (...) One thing he was talking about is simplicity and how, as a cinematographer, by keeping it simple you enhance the quality of the experience of the audience." Moreover, Bobbitt was trying to capture the beauty of the Louisiana landscape and use it as a counterpoint to tragic events. Asked about long takes the film abounds in, he replied: “What Steve and I have discovered, is that particularly in cinematic violence, if you do put an edit into the scene, the audience is subconsciously reminded that they are watching a film. If you don't do it, then hopefully the audience is drawn further and further and further into the scene."

Bobbitt has begun his collaboration with Steve McQueen already 13 years ago on video installations, later they shot Hunger, Shame and, finally, 12 Years a Slave. Bruno Delbonnel's experience was a little bit different.

Before Inside Llewyn Davis he only shot a part of the film Paris Je T'aime with the Coen brothers. He said jokingly that they only turned to him because their regular collaborator, Roger Deakins, was working on Skyfall at the time. “I read the script and I thought that it looks like a folk song, and a very sad one. In these songs, especially American ones, there is always this kind of hope somewhere and nothing ever happens. I said that for me the definition of such sadness is the light never reaching the end of the room. And they laughed about that."

The Coen brothers seduced him with their almost annoying accuracy and precision. “I was impressed by the way they put a shot together. It's very simple; I don't know how anything could be simpler than that. The camera moves only when the camera needs, basically when the actor is walking. Otherwise it's still."

In both cases the decision about shooting on film was made very quickly. The Coen brothers usually make such a choice, also in this situation the conversation about this subject lasted only...15 seconds. "They watched Roger Deakins test for Skyfall and said: This is absolutely brilliant. But it's wrong" - described Bruno Delbonnel.

Still from "Inside Llewyn Davis"
According to Sean Bobbitt, it was almost the same with 12 Years a Slave: “Steve said: We want to shoot it on film, don't we? Yes. We want to shoot it widescreen, don't we? Yes. (...) It was a no-brainer. We wanted it to look like an epic film and as I grew up as a child every epic film I ever saw was on 35mm. It was really simple; I don't think the film would look correct, if it would have been on a digital format."

Taking inspiration from these examples, can one hope that in the future it will be still possible to shoot on film or, as one of the participants noticed, it will become a luxury like caviar? Andrew R. Evenski claimed that there is no such risk: “There are 103 labs around the world ready to serve you. So with that, I mean that there is a reliable infrastructure." Not everyone shared his optimism.

One of the participants summoned Kodak representative to protect film and strive to convince the filmmakers to use it more often. However, Sean Bobbitt noticed that such an initiative should be taken by somebody else. “It's not Kodak that this plea should be going to; it's the people who finance films. They are the only people who are going to keep film going, cause they're paying for it" - stressed cinematographer.

Sean Bobbitt is a decided supporter of film, but even he doesn't think that finding a solution to this situation is going to be easy: “This discussion has been going on for how long I can remember and we've been going round and round in circles. The film industry has always been a dynamic industry; it has always been driven by technology. It will always be like this. Personally I prefer to shoot on film and I will shoot on film as long as I possibly can. I just think film is better for the types of films that I want to make." Bruno Delbonnel went even further: “This is an endless discussion. It has no point whatsoever (...) What's going to happen is that film will disappear. It's like having an Aston Martin on one hand, and a Toyota on the other. There are more Toyotas, which seems rather obvious." French cinematographer kept emphasizing that the future of film will be sealed by simple financial reasons. Invoking his recent experiences on Tim Burton's latest film, Big Eyes, he stated that more and more often film proves to be too expensive.

“Everything is changing and filmmakers need to learn to use new tools (...) I think that most of us at the cinematography festival believe that if you are a producer and you want to make a film you shouldn't dictate, you should ask the person who devoted their life to understanding how to tell stories with images to choose. More options are better" - summed up David Heuring, a journalist who moderated the seminar. To be continued.

Marta Bałaga
Camerimage